During the Late Mesozoic to Early Cenozoic (~65 Ma), the convergence rate between India and Eurasia abruptly increased from ~8 cm/yr to ~18 cm/yr. This dramatic change in plate motion, known as a plate reorganization event, remains an unresolved phenomenon in plate tectonic theory (Fig. 1c). Accompanying this puzzle is the significant, decades-long debate regarding the timing and process of India-Eurasia collision, which has greatly hindered our understanding of the most significant orogenic event since the Phanerozoic—the Tibetan-Himalayan orogeny—and its impact on the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment of Asia.

The ongoing rise in sea levels poses substantial social and economic challenges for coastal regions worldwide. Currently, the Greenland Ice Sheet is the largest single contributor to the rise of the global mean sea level over the past fifty years. If it were to melt completely, it could lead to a global sea level increase of approximately seven meters. Despite decades of research on the melting mechanisms of the Greenland Ice Sheet, the critical scientific question of how meltwater flows inside the ice sheet remains unresolved.

Active fold-thrust belts are located at the front of highly deformed orogenic regions, such as the Apennines, the Zagros Mountains, the Himalayas, the Rocky Mountains, and the Andes. These areas are densely populated and industrially concentrated, posing significant earthquake hazards with the potential to greatly impact human civilization. Understanding the complex relationships among fault slip, fold growth, and earthquakes would benefit earthquake risk assessment in these regions.

The American Physical Society (APS) recently announced its 2024 class of APS Fellows.

BODIPY (boron dipyrromethene) is an N,N-π-conjugated tetracoordinate organoboron compound formed through the chelation of two pyrrole units. As an important fluorescent dye, BODIPYs are widely applied in the fields such as fluorescent probes, bioimaging, optoelectronic materials, and photocatalysts, owing to their excellent photophysical properties, good biocompatibility, and ease of synthesis and modification.

Sulfur stereogenic molecules are widely present in natural products and have a significant impact on drug development (Fig. 1a). Among them, sulfilimines are chiral molecules bearing S(IV) stereocentres, which exhibit great value in chemistry and biology.